Jewel photo courtesy of the Valory Music Co.
May 13, 2008 — Parents are the most influential role models most children have, and in the case of singer-songwriter Jewel, her mom and dad had a huge influence on her choice of music as a career. It was something they pursued for a living, and she caught the bug at a very young age.
"They sang in a hotel for tourists," she told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "They did a variety show where they were like a gold miner and a floozy, a can-can girl. And then my dad sang his original material, and they practiced all the time at the house, working out harmonies. And I remember being a little kid about five years old, listening to my parents practice, and it fascinated me. It was like a math problem."
Her dad quickly became Jewel’s teacher and helped her develop her skills.
"I started learning how to yodel from my dad at a very young age, and I didn’t even know about performing yet," she noted. "I was, for some reason, fascinated with trying to get perfect. That really became an interesting thing to me. And eventually I became part of the family show, and I yodeled on stage, and it kind of went from there."
Jewel established herself nationally as a pop singer in 1996, but she’s currently gearing up for the release of her first country album, Perfectly Clear, June 3. Two nights later, she’ll perform at LP Field in Nashville during the first night of the CMA Music Festival, alongside Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry, Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler. On June 9, she’ll begin a run as a judge on NBC’s "Nashville Star," with host Billy Ray Cyrus and fellow judges John Rich and Jeffrey Steele. And on June 11, she’ll begin working as an opening act on Brad Paisley’s summer tour in Albuqerque, N.M.
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